Flight Log

Warehouse Management System Projects – Quick and Dirty

You’ve been there – you take on what looks like a small Warehouse Management System project that seems like it will be quick and easy so you take shortcuts and skip all the stuff you might normally do. Then, before you know it the requirements have tripled and the project starts to feel out of control. When it comes to Warehouse Management System (WMS) software projects, it never pays to take shortcuts. In fact, small WMS projects can be big failures and here are some of the top reasons why:

No future state or solution summary is developed (Vision/Design)

No true Project Management or planning is done (Planning)

No budget is established or controlled (ROI/Control)

No testing or limited time given to testing (Testing)

No training or documentation of a new process or procedure (Training)

No consideration is given to other departments that may be affected by the changes (Change Management)

The list above looks very similar to any list someone might write of why a software project failed. The point here is that you need to do all the same things in a small WMS project that you’d do in a larger one in order to be successful. This prevents the mistakes and constant rework that can cause small projects to go over time and budget and miss management’s expectations.

WMS testing is very often completely overlooked on small projects, or at best the hours and scope are limited. Any small change has potential unintended knock-on effects to other processes and configurations if not thought out, planned and tested. Make room in your schedule for complete regression or system testing. Of course proper unit testing, acceptance testing and regression testing are the minimum to ensure a successful WMS project.

Warehouse Management System training and documentation on the new process or procedures is very important too. Any time a change is made, no matter how small, document this change in your SOPs, WIKI, etc. The documentation does not have to be a dissertation; often a few sentences, paragraphs or even a diagram will do.

Complete documentation will allow for an easier upgrade or replacement in the long term and for easier support and training of new employees in the short term. A lot of small changes made over a long period of time without proper documentation can really become a nightmare for future changes, upgrades or system replacements.

Treat all Warehouse Management System projects the same, regardless of size, and the same successful outcome you get with a large project will also happen with the small projects. Follow the same steps and include time for testing, training and documentation. Look at the testing, training and documentation independently based on the number of systems, processes and people it will affect and base the time for the WMS project on that.

Don’t let a quick and dirty Warehouse Management System project end up dirty – take the time to make sure you are successful!

“…We can’t say enough good things about the accessibility and knowledge of Open Sky’s personnel or their rapid response – and we have a solid and continuous history of growth we’ve been able to sustain that we tie directly back to Open Sky’s support of our systems.”

— Ditzfeld Transfer, Steve Ditzfeld, VP of Warehousing

“Open Sky Group has a decade of experience deploying JDA Warehouse Management and JDA Warehouse Labor Management for our joint customers and we are thrilled to partner with them on these key customer deployments. The newest version of JDA Warehouse Management has been designed to accelerate deployment times and speed time-to-value, and together with Open Sky Group, we anticipate these deployments will be up and running quickly, giving these customers a powerful WMS that bolsters their warehouse operations.”

“Your team are an extremely talented bunch…totally committed to delivering the goods. I could not be more pleased with our project outcome, as well as how we got there… Most importantly, your team is made up of “normal” guys… There were no consultant “attitudes” about how smart they are about the product…”

— AT&T, Logistics Analyst

“Not only did we have an aggressive timeline for the kitting project, we also wanted this module to show our capabilities to the marketplace and it needed to function well right from the start. Open Sky was absolutely the right choice to get it done quickly and to high standards.”